BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha OS update coming on January 30th

If you still have a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha in your hands and haven't yet sent it off a Limited Edition developer version, some excellent news has just been posted over at BlackBerry Developer Blog. Come January 30th, a new BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha update will be sent out that includes the BlackBerry Hub, phone, and BlackBerry Maps applications. In addition to that great news, a BlackBerry 10 SDK update will also be made available that day as well. That's some pretty stellar news for developers. If you're looking for the full details on the matter, make sure you hit the source link below.

It is assumed that at some point they will "brick" the Dev Alpha's but I always thought that wouldn't be until summer at the earliest one year after launch at the latest considering they are still handing them out and offering them as prizes for the port-a-thon events.

My game plan is set.... update dev alpha and use until I can get my hands on a Rogers Z10... at which point I can send away my dev alpha for the LE device. must make sure I don't go a single day without BB10 awesomeness.

hum ... won't bet on that. Might be a PB BB10 alpha version (as for the Dev Alpha : with limited capabilities = device for dev only) and/or a simulator pretty soon. Might be one of the "surprises" [this is 100% speculation].

Sending the dev alpha right now doesnt sound a good idea especially when you want testing your app with all the upgrades as the developers certainly don't have the lastest version, rather in april as the availability of the replacing device is announced. 6 to 8 weeks after the launch event.

Very interesting move. I wonder how much longer this update will extend the usefulness of the device. Good news for whoever spent crazy amounts for those dev devices on ebay. They won't become bricks for a little while longer.

This news pretty much sucks for all Devs who have already sent their Dev Alpha devices back for the Limited Edition (LE) trade-up program, since it will take a long time after launch to receive the LE devices.

My point is that if the pick-up and return process wasn't as long as it is, all devs could have enjoyed this update on their devices before sending them to RIM for the trade-up program. Now we gotta wait while missing out on this. I know we're speaking of thousands of devices here and it's a lot of work to streamline everything before everyone can receive a LE device, but I was just hypothetically speaking. No offence intended to anyone. Of course everyone has the right to speak for their own.

That doesn't make sense? There getting a update that induces the hub, phone, and maps because the phone will be announced that day. That tells me they are ready. The new sdk will probably have Apis for the hub and the features they announce.

Just because they are updating the OS on the 30th it doesn't mean it won't be there for the public at launch. The update allows for developers to implement there app to the HUB, Map, etc. To think of it in another way, say you make an app but can't get it to connect to BBM because RIM hasn't released the SDK. Does that mean that the phone won't launch? Of course not. It just means that the devs, if they choose to do so, can have their apps, which assuming they have already sent in, connect to the HUB, Map, etc. What does this mean for the consumer? Just a simple app update.

Nope, this means that devs can still develop and test in the closest to final environment, on a free development device. Nothing else. If you're familiar with development, you know that you need a development environment (basically : that you can set up and swipe anytime) and a production one (where you install and run valid apps and test eventual side effects, in a "real usage" situation).

Edit : remember DevAlphas can be returned anytime (before they got locked). 21st wasn't a device return deadline.
Quote (devblog) : "The Limited Edition devices will begin shipping out six to eight weeks after the BlackBerry 10 launch on January 30, 2013"

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